Advice on getting answers?

Iā€™ve only been at this around a month, I guess, but Iā€™m at the point where tutorials arenā€™t really going to take me any further, and the only way Iā€™m going to learn is by doing.

But whenever I encounter an obstacle Iā€™m having a hard time finding my way past doing my own research, Iā€™m having a difficult time getting answers. Not just here, but on Reddit and SO too.

I know long posts with big chunks of code can be offputting, and I try to pare it down as best I can, but then I get people telling me I need to give them more information if I want help. And honestly, some of the stuff Iā€™m dealing with is so perplexing that I donā€™t KNOW what information someone else will need to help pick through the tangle.

Does anyone have any advice for how to get more responses? Iā€™ve been stuck for days due because I just canā€™t find the answers I need.

Based on a series of posts Iā€™ve seen from you, I have the impression that after you post a problem, you go on and figure it out yourself. In a day or two, there is a new post where you have gotten past the last problem, and are now wrestling with a new one. So I just sit back and watch. :wink:

If I replied, I would probably suggest doing a simpler version of your app first. It is often easier to develop by ā€œadding one more thingā€ than to do ā€œeverything at once.ā€ When you start with an app that is working, you know that any problems are only in the new section you have just added, so it is easier to focus on the task you are doing.

Thatā€™s true. Usually because I keep trying to chip away at the problem while Iā€™m waiting to see if someone answers, or I try to find a workaround. I also sort of work on a couple different facets of what Iā€™m trying to do at once, so that if I get stuck, I can switch tracks and just let the other problem percolate in my mind for a day or two (or hope that someone answers an inquiry.)

Believe it or notā€¦this IS the simpler version of what I ultimately have planned. In the end, I want a suite for audiobook library management, which will include cataloguing your library, transferring them to your device, and the ability to transcode and edit/tweak metadata to facilitate however best the user wants to manage their library. Sort of like what Books and the Audible apps SHOULD be doing, if they were created by bibliophiles rather than a companies who just wants to sell books out of their store. Calibre, unfortunately, doesnā€™t really have the flexibility to work audiobooks into its functionality in a really encompassing way either. So. There needs to be another option.

But anywayā€¦all that begins with the ability to import an audiobook file, use ffmpeg to read and manipulate it, and output a file that has been split/joined/transcoded/or had its metadata altered. So I decided once I was done with as many ā€œfundamentalsā€ courses as I could manage to find, I would just need to dive in and tackle it one thing at a time. Figure out how to make the browse buttons work. Then the text fields. Then the popup. Then the next thing.

Eh. It sort of made sense in my head, I guess.

Have you considered a paid mentor?

They charge in 15 minute increments and scheduling at Codementor appears to range from putting a meeting on the calendar to spontaneous based on availability.

Iā€™ve perused Swift mentors and thereā€™s some excellent talent out there.

I think a lack of impetus with complicated topics on forums run by volunteers is normal because everyone is busy.

If we want help then helping others might capture the attention of experienced members. Ask a question, solve it on your own, return to post the solution. I might follow my own advice. :slight_smile: